Bobbin winder



Aug. 12 1924.

C. H. GREENWOOD BOBBIN WINDER Filed Jan. 26, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug.12. 1924. 1,504,950

C. H. GREENWOOD BOBBIN WINDER Filed Jan. 26 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet P CH.Greenwood Patented Aug. 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES CHARLES H. GREENWOOD, OF CANTON, OHIO.

BOBBIN WINDEB.

Application'filed January 26, 1923. Serial No. 615,125.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. GREEN- wooD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Bobbin l/Vinders,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bobbin winders for sewing machines. There area great number of objections to the different types of bobbin winders atpresent in common use. The bobbin being rotatable upon an axissubstantially parallel to the longitudinal center of the machine, causesconsiderable inconvenience to the operator in placing the bobbin in thewinder and removing the same therefrom, as well as in threading thebobbin.

Owing to this position of the bobbin winder, it is generally necessaryto feed the thread to the bobbin from the front or side of the machineor from above the bobbin, making it necessary either to guide the threadby hand or to provide some means for guiding the thread back and forthupon the bobbin to coil the same evenly thereon. Where automatic devicesare used to guide the thread evenly back and forth upon the bobbin, itis necessary to include in the mechanism gears, springs and otherdelicate parts which are easily bent or broken.

It has been found that such a construction does not always coil thethread evenly upon the bobbin, as the device must be designed for astandard weight of thread which will cause heavier thread to pile upupon the bobbin, while lighter thread would necessarily be wound withthe coils spaced from each other.

It is also necessary with such a construction to drive the bobbin winderfrom the periphery of the hand wheel, and as the same is rounded, thebobbin winder is often caused to slip during the operation thereof.

Considerable annoyance. has been caused by bobbin winders of usualconstruction, as the same take up considerable space upon the outside ofthe machine, and frequently are accidentally disengaged from the handwheel during the operationof winding orhave no positive means forautomatically disengag ing from the hand wheel when the bobbin is full.

It has also been found that considerable trouble is caused with bobbinwinders of this description, as they are located in such a position thatthey protrude outward toward the operator and are then accidentallythrown into engagement with the hand wheel, causing the machine to runhard.

The objects of the present invention are to overcome the objectionsabove enumerated by providing a simple and'efficient bobbin winder whichis almost entirely enclosed and which engages the face of the handwheel, which should be of disk form for the purposes of this invention.

Another object is to provide means for positively holding the frictiondriving wheel of the bobbin winder in engagement with the face of thedisk hand wheel during the winding operation, and to cause the same tobe automatically disengaged from the hand wheel and dropped intoinoperative position when the bobbin is filled.

Other objects are to provide a motor drive for engagement with the diskhand wheel having simple and effective means for easily" and readilychanging the speed of the hand wheel and for starting and stopping therotation of the same.

A further object of the improvement is to mount the bobbin upon aspindle located substantially transversely to the axis of the handwheel, in order to permit the same to be easily placed upon or removedfrom the spindle and to facilitate the threading of the bobbin; and topermit the thread to be fed to the bobbin from the eye of the needle orother suitable point at a considerable distance from the bobbin, causingthe thread to wind itself evenly upon the bobbin with out the necessityof automatic feeding mechanism..

A still further object is to provide a bobbin winder of this type whichdispenses with the use of springs, gears and other delicate parts whichmay be easily bent or broken and to enclose the greater portion of thebobbin winder mechanism in order to. pro tect the same from injury.

The above and other objects may be attained by constructing the devicein the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whicl Figure1 is a top plan view of a sewing machine provided with the improvedbobbin winder;

Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3, an enlarged section on the line 33, Fig. 1; and

the beibbin winter iii the inoperative position. 1

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawings.

' The goose-neck 1 and head 2 of the machine ma be of anynsual and wellknown construction, and the hand wheel 3 is of disk form,j-as best shownin Figs. 3 and 4. The hand wheel may be provided with a grooved pulley 4for the reception of a belt 5 by means of which it may be drivenby footpower'or an electric motor such as shown at 6 ,may be provided" fordriving the hand wheel, ;a squared shaft 7 being slidably mounted withina similar squared passage in theimotor shaft and provided with afriction roller 8 for engagement with the face of the disk wheel 3. I

A;lever 9 is arranged to be operated by the hand, knee or foot of theoperator, being operatively connected to the lower end of the squaredshaft- 7 for the purpose of sliding the shaft vertically to move'thefriction jwheelS toward or from the center of the disk hand wheel, inorder to increase or decrease the speed of the hand wheel, and

to be moved entirely out of engagement with I ,A. friction roller 16 isfixed upon the spindle 17 which is ournaled upon the outer end of thearm 10, said friction roller being ,provided with a tire 18 of rubber orother suitable friction material, arranged to be moved into engagementwith the face of the disk hand wheel 3, as illustrated in Figs.

1, ,2 and 3.

The spindle 17 is preferably hollow and longitudinally as shown at 18*,in order to permit the bobbin 19 to be easily placed upon or removedfrom the spindle. A bell crank 20 is pivoted as at 21 upon the arm 10.

the lower arm 22 thereof being provided with anot ch23'arranged toengage the stud ,lixed upon the plate 12.

The forward arm 25 of said bell crank is provided with a dependingflange 26 an rangedto beengaged-by the thread wound upon the bobbin, asshown in Fig. 3, to tilt the bell crank upon its pivot and release thenotched arm 22 thereof from the pin 24:, the weight of the arm10 and thedevices threaded thereon causing the same to drop, without the use ofsprings or similar devices, into the inoperative position, as shown inFig. 4-, automatically moving the friction wheel 16 out of engagementwith the disk hand wheel. when the bobbin is filled.

In Winding the bobbin, the same is placed upon the spindle 17 and thearm 10 raised until the notch 23 upon the bell crank engages the stud24, as shown in Fig. 2. The friction pulley 16 is then held infrictional engagcn'ient with the face of the disk hand wheel.

The thread may then be pulled from the spool '27 and pul ed through thehead and threaded through the needle 28 and extended up to the bobbin,the end of the thread being drawn into the slot 29 in the side wall ofthe bobbin, instead of tying or winding the thread around the bobbin orthreadiin it through the usual hole in the bobbin. he hand wheel is thenrotated, either by foot power or the motor, rotating the bobbin throughthe disk hand wheel 3 and friction pulley 16, winding the thread uponthe bobbin.

It will be seen that if the needle is already threaded for sewing, it isonly necessary to pull the loose end of the thread over to the bobbinand draw the same through the slot 29. In threading the device in thismanner, the needle bar may be held in the raised positionby any suitablemeans, such as the needle threading device illustrated and described inmy copending application upon needle thrcader. If desired, however. thethread as shown at B in dotted lines. may be passed from the spoolthrough the eyelet C located upon the head of the machine and then tothe bobbin.

ith this construction, it willbe seen that by using. two spools ofthread instead of one, the bobbin may be wound at the same time themachine is in operation for sewing. as the winding operation is entirelyautomatic. the thread guiding itself back and forth uponthe bobbin andwinding evenly thereon and automatically throwing the bobbin winder outof operative engagement with the hand wheel when the bobbin is filled.

It should be noted that as the bobbin winder is almost entirely enclosedwithin the casing or housing 12 and is located against the'gooseaieck,it will obviate the posslbilit of accidentally striking the bobbinwinder. and throwing the same into engagement with the hand wheel, whichnecessarily causes the machine to run harder.

This is a common objection to bobbin winders of usual construction. Itwill also be seen that the bobbin winder being lo cated in thisposition, will not be in danger of being accidentally struck and thrownout of operative engagement with the hand wheel during the operation ofthe same for winding the bobbin.

' As the bobbin is threaded upon a spindle same, it will be obvious thatthe difficulties referred to in connection with the common forms ofbobbin winders, which engage the rounded periphery of the hand wheel,are

' overcome.

From the above, it will be obvious that a simple and effectivebobbin'winder is provided which overcomes the objections common inbobbin winders at present in use, as the bobbin winder mechanism isalmost entirely enclosed and is located in a position where it will notbe accidentally struck by the operator, thus not only protecting themechanism from injury, but also preventing the bobbin winder from beingaccidentally thrown into engagement with the wheel or out of engagementtherewith.

It will also be seen that this mechanism does away with the necessity ofusing springs, gears, thread guides and other delicate parts, which maybe easily bent or broken or otherwise injured to affect theirusefulness.

I claim:

1. In combination with a sewing machine having a goose neck and head, abobbin winder mounted upon the goose neck and provided with ahorizontally disposed bobbin spindle located substantially transverselyto the goose neck and disposed toward the operator of the machine.

2. In combination with a sewing machine, a disk hand wheel thereon and abobbin winder provided with a friction wheel arranged to engage the faceof the disk hand wheel and having a horizontally disposed spindledisposed toward the operator.

8. In combination with a sewing machine, a bobbin winder comprisingmechanism lo cated within the housing and protruding through the sidethereof and a friction wheel carried by said mechanism for engagementwith the hand wheel of the sewing machine.

4. A bobbin winder including a pivoted arm, a bobbin spindle andfriction wheel upon the free extremity of the arm, means for holding thearm in raised position to hold the friction wheel in engagement with thehand wheel of the sewing machine, and

means for releasing the arm to permit the same to drop of its own weightinto the inoperative position.

5. A bobbin winder including a pivoted arm having a bobbin spindle andfriction wheel upon the free end thereof, means for holding the arm inthe raised position to hold the friction wheel in engagement with thehand wheel of the sewing machine and means automatically operated by thefilling of the bobbin to release the arm and permit the same to drop ofits own weight into the inoperative position.

6. A bobbin winder including an arm pivoted at one end and having abobbin spindle and friction wheel upon its free end, a bell crankpivoted upon the arm, and provided with a notch, in one end portion, astation ary stud arranged to be engaged by the notch to hold the arm inoperative position and means upon the other end of the bell crank forengagement with the thread when the bobbin is filled to automaticallyrelease the bell crank and permit the arm to drop to the inoperativeposition.

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

CHARLES H. GREENWOOD.

